Carole A. Feuerman ranks among the leaders in the field of hyper-real sculpture. In works such as her Self-Portrait, she begins with casts made from the live model or from hand-carved plaster. The completed figure is created in resin, which is then coated with multiple layers of oil paint. Facial expression and sensuality are key components of Feuerman’s work, yet the artist seeks to transcend the physicality of the body in order to suggest underlying currents of emotion. Her goal is to express universally understood feelings through (and also in spite of) the extreme realism of her figures.

Feuerman studied at Hofstra University, Temple University, and the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Setting out as a commercial illustrator, she designed a number of record album covers (including the Museum’s Snake, made in the early 1970s for rock musician Alice Cooper). Her first efforts at sculpture date to around the same time, and to improve her knowledge of resin casting, Feuerman went to work in a mannequin factory on Canal Street in New York. A show of her sculpture held in 1980 attracted the attention of Malcolm Forbes, who bought several pieces. Feuerman’s career subsequently blossomed, and over the last 30 years, the artist has shown her work nationally and internationally, winning prizes in the United States as well as Austria, China, Italy, and Japan.